Brian Carter first saw Wheelchair Getaways, a
wheelchair-accessible van rental company, advertised in a disabled
services directory in 1995. When Carter, who has spina bifida,
called the Versailles, Kentucky, company, he realized it offered
more than a transportation solution.

"We help disabled individuals who may feel trapped at home
by providing them the opportunity for [business ownership],"
explains Stewart Gatewood, president of Wheelchair Getaways, which
has 31 franchises in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Carter had used a power wheelchair as a student at the
University of Kentucky. "With no way to transport the chair,
there was nowhere I could [go] but to classes and back," says
Carter, 25.

In 1996, he, his mother, Noretta von Helm, and friend Norita
Rowe became partners in Getaways' only Kentucky franchise.

Thanks to advertising and referrals, Carter's fleet has
grown to three full-sized vans and four minivans. "It's
fantastic when you see people who can't get out, and all of a
sudden they've got this van and they can travel and do what
they want," says Carter. "That's where the real joy
in this business comes in."

For The People

By Elaine W. Teague

AFC enterprises Inc., parent company of Churchs Chicken, is
committed to minority franchising and the economic empowerment of
U.S. inner-city communities. In keeping with its mission, AFC has
hatched a "New Age of Opportunity" philosophy and
recently made the Atlanta Franchise Development Co. (AFDC) its
largest franchise partner--and the nation's largest
African-American restaurant franchise owner. The AFDC, under
president and CEO Dwayne Heard, will purchase 100 Churchs locations
and has plans to build 100 additional restaurants.

The shared philosophy of AFC and AFDC will be the cornerstone of
AFDC's new Employee Ownership program, which will allow
restaurant managers to buy units. Similarly, AFC's PLUS
(Programs Launched Universally for Success) Program gives AFC an
opportunity to offer a lower cost of entry to individuals
purchasing a Churchs franchise by targeting minority franchisees in
government-assisted empowerment zones.

"Inclusion" is the '90s buzzword at AFC's
Atlanta headquarters. "[We provide] annual scholarships to
college-bound Churchs employees or children of employees, and
we've dramatically increased the number of our minority
suppliers," says Hala Moddelmog, president of Churchs and,
fittingly, the first woman to head an international food-service
chain.

AFC has also built 100 homes for low-income residents through
the international program Habitat for Humanity, with a pledge to
build 100 more.

Secret Formula

By Janean Chun

Since we last visited Scott Shane, assistant professor of
entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
Cambridge ("Opportunity Insider," September), he has
broken new ground in his quest to uncover the factors that
determine franchise survival. Whereas he previously studied
individual factors, Shane has now determined that unexpected
combinations provide new franchise systems with advantages.
"This is the first time I've ever examined the interaction
of these different factors," says Shane. His latest study
found that new franchise systems are more likely to survive if they
meet this criteria:

They are ranked highly in Entrepreneur magazine's Franchise
500 and are founded in states that require franchise registration.
"State regulators aren't necessarily looking for the
quality of the system--they're looking for full disclosure. And
Entrepreneur is looking for indications of quality, geared heavily
toward growth," says Shane. "These are two different, and
yet complementary, kinds of investigation. Franchisors who are both
disclosing properly and growing rapidly offer many
advantages."

They have a higher percentage of franchised outlets and are
located in states with laws restricting termination of franchisees.
"A new franchisor can grow faster through franchised outlets,
so a higher ratio of franchised outlets to company-owned outlets is
beneficial. Without termination laws, franchisees aren't
protected against opportunistic franchisors. It becomes easier for
franchisees to be terminated and harder to build a system of mostly
franchisees with relatively few company-owned outlets."

They require comparatively high capitalization and have a
higher percentage of franchised outlets. "When the amount of
capitalization needed for a franchised outlet is higher, you need
more resources, so it's better to have a system that's more
heavily franchised rather than company-owned," says Shane.
"Otherwise, you can't grow quickly enough."

Spaced Out

By G. David Doran

Franchisors are seeking creative venues to battle saturation.
Melbourne, Florida-based Kinderdance International Inc. is
definitely innovative: Who else but McDonald's can claim
outlets at high-caliber locales such as the Kennedy Space Center
and Walt Disney World in Florida, and the World Trade Center in New
York City?

Devin McHugh, a Kinderdance franchisee for 11 years, was
teaching in about 12 different locations per week in Brevard
County, Florida, when she got a call from the director of the
Kennedy Space Center's Childhood Development Center. The
director had heard about the mobile dance and movement program for
children ages 2 through 8 and wanted McHugh to teach at the center.
"Kennedy is an extremely large facility, but it is run well.
Our program fit right in," says McHugh.

The sprawling 84,000-acre space-flight complex may be
intimidating to some, but McHugh saw an opportunity. "The more
kids we can reach, the better," she says.

Pizza The Pie

By G. David Doran

Employees who fantasize about being the boss will be glad to
hear this: Marco's Pizza Inc., a Toledo, Ohio-based pizzeria,
has a number of franchisees who once delivered pizzas or tossed
dough for the restaurant.

Eric Schmitt, director of franchise sales for Marco's,
believes employees who start at the bottom make the most successful
franchisees. "They understand the work, the hours, and the
problems with hiring and firing," he says. Called
"internal growth," Marco's policy allows employees to
gain experience for owning and managing a restaurant franchise.

Delivery drivers Todd Timmins and Joe Boles Jr. are cases in
point. "Since we'd worked [at] Marco's, we already
knew 90 percent of what it took to run a store," says Boles.
"We just needed to learn the other 10 percent--the
administrative and ownership aspects of it." Timmins and Boles
now own three stores in Ohio.

Schmitt shares his employees' enthusiasm for internal
growth, which accounts for more than a quarter of Marco's
franchisees. "They see the opportunity that exists," he
says. "They know they can move into management, and they get
very gung-ho about it."

Good Connections

By Natasha Emmons

Looking for a way to take advantage of the Internet explosion,
but you're not exactly a techie? With The Internet Yellow Pages
Inc., you can become an official "Internet consultant"
even if you don't know the difference between a mouse and a
modem.

Internet Yellow Pages consultants sell ad enhancements to the 16
million businesses in the national Internet Yellow Pages.
Consultants give listed businesses the option to add animation to
their ads, for example, or to be listed first when users do a
search of the database. Advertisers can even choose to sell their
merchandise directly through a link to their own site. And unlike
the traditional, printed Yellow Pages, businesses advertising in
the Internet version can update their ads as often as they
like.

"The beauty of the Internet Yellow Pages is that you have a
national directory that can [connect] you to local
advertisers," says Michele Erard-Coupe, president and CEO of
Chester, New Hampshire-based Internet Yellow Pages.

Trainees pay between $995 and $5,500 for the initial sales
instruction, which includes a manual, practice selling ads, and
even personal coaching, depending on the package chosen. There are
no territory restrictions, so consultants can sell ads anywhere in
the United States.

Super Chicken

By G. David Doran

A plastic life-sized cow stands next to a busy highway, wearing
a sandwich board that begs passersby to "Eat Mor Chikin,"
in scrawled handwriting. The newest ad campaign for Atlanta-based
Chick-fil-A Inc. may sound like a bad joke, but if the numbers are
any indication, people are taking the cow's pleadings to heart.
The company started 50 years ago as a chicken restaurant so small
it was actually called "The Dwarf House." Chick-fil-A now
has 750 locations in 35 states plus South Africa and Canada, with
1996 sales of $600 million.

According to Chick-fil-A's Huie Woods, the key to the
company's expansion is its independent operators. Operators pay
$5,000 to sublease a pre-built location from the company, but
before stepping behind the counter, they receive six weeks of paid
training in store operations and marketing.

While it's not a franchise, Chick-fil-A takes 50 percent of
net profits and 15 percent of gross sales. However, operators are
guaranteed a $30,000 base salary regardless of profits, which can
exceed $100,000 per year in some freestanding locations. And, if
that isn't enough, Chick-fil-A restaurants are closed on
Sundays, a long-standing company tradition, giving employees the
day off.

Cleaning Up

By Natasha Emmons

Auto painting and body works giant Maaco Enterprises Inc. will
be seeing green if Denver-area franchisee and
environmental-management advocate Judi Sorensen has her way.

Sorensen, who helped launch a coalition in Denver called the
Northeast Metro Pollution Prevention Alliance (NEMPPA) last
December, hopes to help the environment through workshops aimed at
community businesses.

"One of the greatest obstacles to both compliance [with
environmental laws] and pollution prevention is lack of
information," says Sorensen. At NEMPPA's first workshop in
May, auto-paint suppliers provided information on environmentally
friendly practices that save companies money. More workshops are
planned for the auto-body industry this winter.

Funding has come from the Environmental Protection Agency and
international petroleum company DuPont/Conoco Inc. Maaco is
providing support in the form of information resources.

What's New

By Connie Cousins

Game Plan
Minneapolis-based Grow Biz International--the parent company of
used-merchandise franchises Once Upon A Child, Play It Again Sports
and Disc Go Round, among others--has just added a sixth division to
its franchise group.
With the recent acquisition of Cleveland-based Video Game Exchange
(VGE), Brad Tait, president of the new division, expects to open 50
new It's About Games! stores next year.
It's About Games! sells used video, computer and board games;
comic books; trading cards; and "Japanamation" videos. A
competitive idea, considering VGE's 40 corporate-owned stores
racked up $17 million in sales last year. That track record, plus
Grow Biz's expertise, should be a winning
combination.

*Dry Idea
The key to Ann Arbor-based Molly Maid Inc.'s newest franchise
venture, Home Service Express, is simple: Consumers lead busy
lives--a reality this home-cleaning franchise system has banked on
since 1979.
Home Service Express opens this month as a sister company to Molly
Maid, offering customers laundry and dry-cleaning pickup and
delivery.
David McKinnon, Molly Maid CEO and chairman, says he foresees the
company adding 50 to 75 Home Express Service units next
year.

Word Has It...
In August, Princeton, New Jersey-based Berlitz International
acquired ELS Educational Services Inc. With the purchase, Berlitz
adds to its career- and business-oriented language programs a
franchise system chiefly aimed at students preparing to enroll in
U.S. colleges or universities. ELS' franchise operation covers
16 countries; the company's revenues for 1996 were $62.6
million. Berlitz currently operates language schools in 39
countries worldwide.